Vestas has taken the wraps off a multi-rotor wind turbine as the company looks to raise power outputs from single installations without having to increase hardware tip heights.
The manufacturing giant said today it will work with the Technical University of Denmark to install the concept demonstrator at the Risø test site near Roskilde.
The turbine features four refurbished V29-225kW nacelles mounted on a support structure.
Full-scale convertors and control features have been added to enable required testing. Tip height is 74 metres and tailored to site-specific requirements.
Vestas said the project “challenges the core scaling rules that turbines have to grow in size to increase their energy output”.
The company added that a number of features need to be tested and proven before commercial deployment will be considered.
“Ultimately, the goal is to assess if we can build an even more cost-efficient turbine by challenging the scaling rules,” said Vestas senior vice president for innovation and concepts Jorge Magalhaes.
“Installing a concept turbine shows that innovation sometimes entails entirely new thinking and new approaches,” he added.
“This process of continuous innovation and exploration is extremely important. It provides us with essential knowledge that can help us bring down our products’ cost of energy and integrate key technologies to solve our customers’ challenges.”
Vestas Technology and Service Solutions executive vice president Anders Vedel added: “As a global company, it is essential that Vestas’ product portfolio remains versatile enough to deliver high performance in a wide array of different market conditions – and also innovative enough to succeed in markets with different energy systems and requirements.
“We see a great opportunity – and need – to continuously explore alternative concepts to cover the world’s rapidly growing energy demand in a sustainable way, while simultaneously continue lowering the cost of energy our products deliver.”
Image: Vestas
